Slang and Jargon
Slang terms in the drug world change constantly. Old terms drop out of the language and new ones take their place as various drugs fall in and out of use. Slang also reflects changes in the groups who sell and use drugs—their geographical location, their ethnicity, and their social status. Yet certain terms last for a remarkably long time, such as some of those for heroin. Other drug-related terms have become a permanent part of the English language, such as "hooked," "spaced out," "high," and "hip." The words listed below have been in use over the last hundred years. Some developed recently. Also included are the origins of these words, if known.
| SLANG AND JARGON IN THE DRUG WORLD |
| STREET | TERM DEFINITION |
| Adam | originally named to connote a primordial man in a state of innocence; MDMA, a mild hallucinogen |
| amp | from "ampule"; the drug is sold in small glass ampules, which are broken open and the contents inhaled |
| amps | amphetamines |
| angel dust | since the 1970s, phencyclidine (PCP), an anesthetic used on animals but originally on humans; discontinued because of bizarre mental effects |
| bagging | taking an inhalant by breathing it from a bag |
| beamed up | from "Beam me up, Scotty," an expression used in the television series Star Trek; "Scotty" is also a term for crack cocaine; intoxicated by crack |
| beamer | a crack smoker or addict |
| beans | dextroamphetamines |
| big C | cocaine |
| big H | heroin |
| black beauties | amphetamines |
| black tar | heroin |
| blotter | doses of the drug are dripped on a sheet of blotter paper for sale; LSD |
| blow | (1) to sniff a drug; (2) cocaine; (3) to smoke marijuana ("blow a stick") |
| breakfast cereal | ketamine |
| brown | heroin from Mexico diluted with brown milk sugar (lactose), which is less pure than China white; also called "Mexican mud" or "brown sugar" |
| candy | cocaine, amphetamine, or depressant |
| caps | (from the appearance) hallucinogenic mushrooms chalk crystal methamphetamine or cocaine |
| chasing the dragon | (from a Chinese expression for inhaling fumes of heroin after heating it; the melting drug resembles a wriggling snake or dragon) (1) inhaling heroin fumes after the substance is heated on a piece of tinfoil.
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Slang and Jargon from Drugs, Alcohol, and Tobacco. Copyright © 2001-2006 by Macmillan Reference USA, an imprint of the Gale Group. All rights reserved.
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